The Consequences of Unchecked Corporate Greed

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

This is what insatiable corporate greed has gotten us. Should rampant homelessness be the norm for the wealthiest nation in the world? Is scrapping by paycheck to paycheck the only opportunity we can offer our children? Unfortunately, if you weren’t born to a wealthy family, your chances of making it are continually shrinking.

Low-wage jobs don’t just hurt families in the short term; they have a lasting impact on America’s future. Children of low-wage workers are often forced to shift their focus from education to low-paying work, just to help their family scrape by. This will have devastating consequences for America’s future, as workers miss out on opportunities to learn the valuable skills that drive America’s economy.

Now, (contrary to ALL historical evidence) the 1% is trying to tell us this vast income inequality is good for us. We’d like to see them tell it to the hard-working men and women across this country who drive our economy, but can barely put food on the table or afford health care because their wages have stagnated over the past 30 years.

We constantly hear the wealthiest in society (and their bought and paid for members of congress) saying that hard-working Americans are ruining this country by sticking together to have their voices heard on the job. Instead of dipping into their record profits, many corporations would rather have us work for pennies to produce the goods that make them rich in the first place. They want to see us race to the bottom. If they had it their way, we’d all be working in unsafe factories like the one in Bangladesh where 112 people were killed in a fire. Although big-box retailers knew the factory desperately needed improvements, they decided countless human lives weren’t worth a few bucks, and vetoed making improvements. Is this “unpardonable negligence” by management what we want for ourselves in America?

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The great American middle class wasn’t something that just happened – it was built brick by brick. It was built by soldiers returning from war and a government that repaid them by giving them a shot at college.

What the wealthy and well-connected figured out is that they have strength in numbers: the numbers of dollars they contribute to politicians. It’s time working and middle class Americans use our strength in numbers to reclaim the American Dream. We need a counterweight to the power of big money – and that’s the power of big numbers, the power of ordinary people who work for a living demanding to have our voices heard – from the workplace to Washington.